Scope and Aims
The CISG-AC is a private initiative which aims at promoting a uniform interpretation of the CISG. It is a private initiative in the sense that its members do not represent countries or legal cultures, but they are scholars who look beyond the cooking pot for ideas and for a more profound understanding of issues relating to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods of 11 April 1980 (CISG).
The CISG Advisory Council was founded on the initiative of the inspirational late Prof Albert Kritzer of the Institute of International Commercial Law in 2001. Prof Kritzer was at the forefront of the promotion of the harmonization of international commercial law with initiates like the CISG Advisory Council, the Institute’s database on the CISG and the Willem C Vis Moot.
Internationality and Uniformity
As an independent body of experts, the group is afforded the luxury of being critical of judicial or arbitral decision and of addressing issues not dealt with previously by adjudicating bodies. The Council is guided by the mandate of Article 7 of the Convention as far as its interpretation and application are concerned: the paramount regard to international character of the Convention and the need to promote uniformity.
In line with its objectives, the CISG Advisory Council is also committed to the multinational and multi-lingual character of the CISG. Accordingly the opinions of the Council is being made available in all six of the official languages of the CISG as well as a number of other prominent trade languages. In this the Council is well served by the international composition of its members.
Mode of Operation
In practical terms, the primary purpose of the CISG-AC is to issue opinions relating to the interpretation and application of the Convention on request or on its own initiative. Requests may be submitted to the CISG-AC, in particular, by international organizations, professional associations and adjudication bodies.
Observer Status at UNCITRAL and UNIDROIT
On 10 September 2012 the CISG-AC was granted observer status by UNCITRAL. This enables the CISG-AC to attend meetings of UNCITRAL and its working groups.
On 4 February 2015 the CISG-AC was granted observer status at the Governing Council of UNIDROIT. This enables the CISG-AC to attend meetings of UNIDROIT.
New Opinions and Declarations
The CISG Council has published 22 Opinions and 2 Declarations. The latest opinion is:
- Opinion No 22 The seller’s liability for goods infringing intellectual property rights under Article 42 CISG (Rapporteur Dr David Tebel) has now been published.
For a list of opinions currently under discussion see our Schedule of work page.
New translations
The Council also strive to make the Opinions available in other languages.
The following new translations are now available:
- Opinion 5 in Latvian
- Opinions No 20 and 21 in Spanish
New case law
The CISG Advisory Council Opinions have been cited in the national courts of 14 different countries in 77 published cases. The latest reported cases are:
- Netherlands Elos Med S.P. v. Glimm Screens B.V. 09 February 2022 Rechtbank Noord-Nederland (District Court Northern Netherlands) Case text (Dutch)
- United States Shenzen Synergy Digital Co., Ltd. v. Mingtel, Inc. 29 March 2022U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas Opinion 2 Case text (English)
- Netherlands […] v. Edco Eindhoven B.V. 04 May 2022 Rechtbank Oost-Brabant (District Court Oost-Brabant) Opinion 2 Case text Dutch
- Netherlands ArcelorMittal Construction Nederland B.V. v. [...] 05 April 2022 Rechtbank Gelderland (District Court Gelderland) Case text (Dutch)
- United States Goodman Food Products, Inc. v. Sunrise Foods Int'l Inc. 01 June 2022 U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Opinion 13 Case text (English)
- Netherlands Cozy Casa N.V. v. Vidiled B.V. 03 August 2022 Rechtbank Zeeland-West-Brabant (District Court Zeeland-West-Brabant) Case text (Dutch)
- Netherlands Organto Europe B.V. v. Axarfruit S.L. 10 November 2022 Rechtbank Zeeland-West-Brabant (District Court Zeeland-West-Brabant) Opinion 13 Case text (Dutch)
- Netherlands Willemen Infra N.V. v. Jura B.V. 11 November 2022 Parket bij de Hoge Raad (Advocate General at the Dutch Supreme Court) Opinion 16 Case text (Dutch)
Next CISG Advisory Council Meetings
The next physical CISG Advisory Council meeting will take place in Kopaonik, Serbia during December 2023. Further online meetings may be held in the course of 2023.
This will be followed by a number of virtual meetings during 2024 followed by a physical meeting in Lisbon in September 2025.
For more information contact the secretary Ass-Prof Milena Djordjević.